Relative Dimension 03: Revelation
by MartyCessna
Summary: A trip to the 80s ends in disaster when Cara's past comes back to haunt her. Events are being set in motion that could bring back an old horror, one that terrifies even the Doctor. Part One of the conclusion to the Cara's background story arc.
1. Chapter 1

Cara ran. And ran. And ran. On and on into the night, without stopping. They were after her again. The faceless attackers. This must be a nightmare. Yet she was still inexplicably afraid. She dodged down an alley between two buildings, not watching as the pursuers in the black cloaks thundered past. They chased nothing off into the distance. Releasing her breath, Cara turned to leave the alley. She found herself facing a giant silver statue shaped like a figure eight lying on its side. It moved slowly toward her, soundless, mindless, unstoppable. Completely filled with fear and horror at the emblem, she stumbled backward. Cara fell onto her back, her hand landing on her chest. She pulled it away, and it was sticky with blood. She couldn't tell if it were hers or someone else's. She felt the ground give way and she was falling, falling, down toward a white-blue light. The darkness returned to smother her.

She woke up, gasping. Her eyes roamed the unfamiliar surroundings until she realized that she was in her newly-assigned bedroom in the TARDIS. The Doctor had insisted that she have a place of her own on board his ship, and had let her furnish it using items from the TARDIS' eccentric collection of oddities from across time and space.

Flipping the power switch on the old CD player she'd found, and then hitting the top of it twice for good measure, Cara stood. She stretched luxuriously and straightened out the blankets on her bed. Then she smiled, remembering that today was an important day in history. If anything could be called "history" anymore.

The beat from the music on the CD called to her to dance, and so she did. She picked up one of her pillows and swung around the room with it, singing, "…what's the name of the game? Does it mean anythinnnng to youuuu?"

"No," said a voice outside of her door, "but are you ready, Dancing Queen? I'd like to get an early start."

Cara giggled and switched off the music, "Coming!" She tightened the sash on her nightgown and twirled out the door, straight into the Doctor's arms. "Time to go shopping!" She grinned at him, "You promised."

The Doctor hid a smile and pretended to look annoyed, "must we?"

"Hey," Cara plucked at his shirtsleeve, "you get a signature look, so why can't I?"

The Doctor shook his head, but led the way into the TARDIS, "Well, come on. Let's get this over with."

When they reached the TARDIS' wardrobe, Cara whistled, "Talk about the 'place where nobody dared to go'."

"Have fun," the Doctor waved as Cara vanished among the endless clothes.

"This could take ages!" Cara's voice exclaimed.

"Good thing we're Time Lords then," the Doctor called back.

Cara reemerged, wearing a trenchcoat and fedora, "How's this?"

"Good, but the magnifying glass is over the top," the Doctor gestured to the object she was holding.

"Probably," Cara agreed, returning to the clothes.

Next, she was dressed in a glittering green gown tastefully studded in pearly silver gems. On her head, a matching tiara perched in her intricately braided hair. She shook her head, "I don't think this would be very practical."

"Not unless you frequently go to fancy dinner parties," the Doctor nodded.

"Aha!" Cara exclaimed. She was now wearing dark, mirrored glasses and a black leather jacket. She struck a tough pose, "no monsters would dare to attack me in this!"

"Great," the Doctor grinned, "I'm traveling with the Terminator."

"Right," Cara sighed, "I'll be back."

She returned in a toga.

"No. Enn-Oh. No." She gave the toga a disapproving glare.

"Looks nice," the Doctor tried not to laugh.

"It's…breezy," Cara frowned, "and the head wreath would never stay on with all the running we do."

"Probably right," the Doctor admitted. Then he grinned widely at her next choice, "Now there we go!"

She wore a loose-fitting beige striped shirt, brown pinstripe slacks, tan deck shoes, and a thick brown coat that reached down to her ankles. She twirled, the coat swirling around her legs, "Yeah?"

"Definitely," the Doctor agreed, "good, comfortable, stylish working clothes."

Cara felt inside the pocket and withdrew a small, blue rubber ball, "What's this?"

"Oh, well, you know," the Doctor took the ball, "in case you get bored and just really need to throw something." He tossed it down and it sprang back up, proceeded over his shoulder, and hopped off into the TARDIS corridors.

"Probably shouldn't have done that," the Doctor muttered, listening to the ball's fading echo.

Cara giggled, "So now that I'm geared up for battle, what's next?"

The Doctor shrugged, "I don't know, what does one do after one goes shopping?"

Tilting her head, Cara replied, "I guess, eat? Yes, definitely eat. And possibly go to a movie."

"Dinner and a movie," the Doctor chuckled, "is there a hint in here I should be getting?"

Cara just smiled and took his arm, "depends on if you want it or not."

The Doctor looked at the Time Lady, but said nothing. The two walked arm-in-arm all the way to the TARDIS control room, chatting about previous encounters.


	2. Chapter 2

"So I said, good thing we're not purple people!" Cara finished, laughing.

The Doctor laughed too, "I wish I'd known you then. Sounds like fun."

"Oh yeah," Cara grinned, "Good times, mostly. Cara Four knew how to party!" She absently combed her hair with one hand, "You know, I haven't thought about that trip in ages. Strange how I remember it so clearly and yet…it wasn't me."

"Aye," the Doctor smiled at her over the TARDIS console, "I don't know though, I'll bet there's still some 'party' left over."

"We're about to find out, aren't we?" Cara's eyes darted meaningfully at the door, "Ready to take a chance on me?"

The Doctor completed the TARDIS' landing procedures and opened the door, "Ah, the good ol' Eighties!" As Cara approached the door, he gave her an uncertain look, "Does your mother know that you're out?"

"Sure," Cara replied teasingly, "and she warned me about boys like you." She skipped out of the blue box, followed by the Doctor.

The TARDIS had settled down in an alley. Cara blinked back memories of her nightmare, focusing instead on all the fun she was about to have.

"Here we go!" the Doctor turned a corner and gestured to a doorway to a worn looking roller rink, "Leftover from the 70s, but still in business."

"Ooh," Cara giggled and marched to the door, "it's been a few hundred years since I tried this." Then she stopped, "Ack, money money money." She pointed to a sign reading "Skate rental: $2."

"No problem!" the Doctor held up two pairs of roller skates, "grabbed these when we were in the wardrobe."

"Mind reader," Cara smiled and took a pair, "and I'll bet today is even a Sunday." She pointed to another sign reading "Sunday Night Skate Free if you Bring Your Own Skates".

"Right again," the Doctor pushed through the doors and found a bench to put his skates on.

Cara sat next to him. "Don't goo wasting your emooooootionnnn," she hummed.

"Is that what's playing?" the Doctor asked, "I can barely hear it."

The loudspeakers in the rink were loud, but garbled. "Levvv aaaa orrre ufff ahhh eeeeeee," they sang.

A few teenagers skated in circles, wearing garishly colored outfits and wild hairstyles.

"What planet are we on again?" Cara asked with a straight face.

"1987," the Doctor reached for her hand, "shall we join the native aliens in their ritual dance?"

The Time Lords skated to every song they could barely hear. They weren't exactly graceful, but they were having fun.

"Aren't you ready for dinner yet?" Cara asked the Doctor.

He squeezed her hand, "one more?"

Suddenly, a song started playing. A real song, with every note clear and melodious. The lights dimmed and a disco ball at the center of the rink suddenly started sending rainbow sparkles everywhere.

"Remember when we held on in the rain…"

Cara gasped at the sudden display, and then at the Doctor's arm around her.

"Let's dance," he suggested, lowering his hand containing his sonic screwdriver.

Cara didn't argue. They skated as one, gliding effortlessly across the rink, twirling apart and together again. The lyrics and music, lights, the night's magic, it had swept everything else away.

"Thank you for the music," Cara smiled into the Doctor's eyes.

"My pleasure," he replied.

Cara blinked, "lights are gonna find me."

"What?" the Doctor studied her face.

"When I know the time is right for me," Cara mumbled, "I'll cross the street…one of us is crying." Her eyes started to roll back in her head, "the heat is on!"

The Doctor caught her as her skates flew out from under her.

"Cara?" he cried, carefully moving her toward an exit. The two people left in the rink stopped skating to stare. He maneuvered her onto a bench.

"What's wrong with her?" one person asked.

"I'm a Doctor," the Doctor told them, "just stay back. Give her some room."

"Drugs, probably," the other person muttered, "too bad."

The Doctor wasn't paying attention to the crowd. He took off the heavy, bulky roller skates and was alarmed to find her feet as hot as irons. He felt her hands, then her head, "You're burning up," He scooped her up and headed for the TARDIS.


	3. Chapter 3

_Cara ran. And ran. And ran. On and on into the night, without stopping. They were after her again. The faceless attackers. _

She woke up, gasping. Her eyes roamed the unfamiliar surroundings until she realized that she had no idea where she was, but that it was white and stretched on infinitely. Her head hurt.

The Doctor's face appeared over her, "You have no right to scare me like that. In the middle of a nice dance, too."

"What happened?" Cara glanced down at her hands, "why am I blotchy? And…on ice?"

"Well, I had to keep you from burning up from the inside out," the Doctor replied, "it seems you literally suffered from 'night fever'."

"Oops," Cara groaned.

"It's all right," the Doctor smiled, concern in his eyes, "Antarctica wasn't that far away."

Cara stood up and looked at where she had been lying. The ice was blackened and scorched-looking, "I burned ICE?"

The Doctor shrugged, but stared, too, "You heated up faster than it could melt."

"I didn't…" she looked down, "change did I?"

"Oh, no," the Doctor assured her, "just a fever, you slept it off."

"You make it sound like a hangover," Cara stepped into the TARDIS. She giggled, "I don't remember getting drunk." She stopped giggling when the Doctor came in, still looking concerned and deep in thought.

"What is it? I feel fine now," Cara smiled at him, "see, there was this Doctor there who helped me out…"

The Doctor looked straight into her eyes, "Where's the primary oscillator circuit in the TARDIS?"

"Uh," Cara blinked, "I don't know, why?"

"You should," the Doctor insisted, "we repaired it yesterday. In fact, you were the one who pointed out that there was a problem with it."

Cara looked silently back at him.

He put his hands on her shoulders firmly, "this is very important. Have you noticed anything odd lately? Hallucinations, recurring nightmares, flashbacks, deja-vu?" He searched her face.

"Nightmares," Cara whispered, "like bad memories that I never had."

The Doctor's face fell, "So it's begun." He looked away, "I was afraid of this."

"What?" Cara grabbed his arms, "_what_ is happening to me?"

The Doctor looked at her with anguished eyes, "You're trying to hold back a lifetime of memories and they're starting to break through the barrier. But your mind would sooner tear itself apart than let these memories get loose. And that's what's happening. It's coming apart."

"So what happened at the roller rink," Cara began.

"Minor short-circuit," the Doctor shook his head, "just a small skirmish in the war going on inside you."

"There's nothing we can do," Cara realized, "either I lose all of my memories forever, or I lose my mind. Or…" She stopped.

"No."

"If I regenerated…"

"It might be the last time you ever did," the Doctor cried, "I can't let you take that chance. There's got to be another way!"

"There is," Cara said softly, "I could remember."

"And I would lose you forever," the Doctor's gaze was eternal, "we'd be on opposite sides. Enemies."

"Was that how it was in the war?" Cara demanded, "was I some sort of traitor?"

The Doctor shook his head, "you're right, there's nothing we can do."

"Doctor!" Cara growled through her teeth, "I…"

"What?" he exploded in frustration.

"I…" she repeated, "I…don't want to forget this." She took his hand.

The Doctor opened his mouth just as the TARDIS did a somersault. Cara and the Doctor grabbed for the nearest pillar and clung to it until the twirling sensation turned into a swaying motion. The Doctor ran to the console and held on while he checked readings, "What?"

"We were sitting on miles of permanent glacier," Cara slowly loosened her grip on the pillar, "why does it feel like we're in water?"

"It's gone," the Doctor explained disbelievingly, "the whole of Antarctica. Just…gone! Looks like all of the ice suddenly melted, and the land is underwater. Blimey, you're not _that_ hot! What was it?"

"Not that hot?" Cara moved beside him. She frowned at the readings, "When are we?"

"Still 1987," the Doctor's brow furrowed, "just hopped across continents."

"Funny how I remember Antarctica being here 20 years from now," Cara mused, "of course, we've just established that my memory isn't 100% reliable…"

"Something's interfered with the time stream, and it wasn't us," the Doctor started operating the TARDIS, "which leaves one other possibility." He nodded at Cara, eyes twinkling. She nodded back.

The wooden blue box, floating at the bottom of the world, faded out of the ocean.


	4. Chapter 4

"So, someone unlocked an alternate, Antarcticaless reality," Cara mused as the TARDIS hurtled through the vortex, "but who, and why?"

"An ocean-dwelling species displaced from their own world?" The Doctor guessed, "no, wait, beachfront property developers!"

"Evil, greedy, time-manipulating beachfront property developers?" Cara raised an eyebrow.

"Stranger things have happened," the Doctor shrugged, guiding his ship and looking unconvinced. In fact, he looked a lot more perplexed than Cara was comfortable with. She shivered.

"Wait." The Doctor gazed intently at the TARDIS display, frowning, "wait, wait wait. There you are."

"What?" Cara tried to peer around him.

"There's something out there," the Doctor said thoughtfully, "out in the Vortex, but it's not stable. It's fluctuating, like it's caught between dimensions. I'll bet that's what's holding the door open for that rapid global warming we just saw."

"Does it look like a property developer?" Cara asked.

"No, but it looks big." the Doctor frowned deeper.

"Big like what?"

"Big like…a big shapeless blob in the Vortex that's wreaking havoc with time! I don't know!" the Doctor cried.

Cara looked away from the screen and toward a wall, suddenly quiet and expressionless, "Uh, whatever it is…I think it's alive, because I think it just tried to reach me telepathically. It's…it's crying for help!"

"What is it saying?" the Doctor asked, partly wondering why it was talking to Cara and not to him.

She stopped staring and blinked, "I…I don't know. It was more of a feeling than words. It felt like…waiting, trapped, alone. And then it was gone." She turned her surprised expression toward the Doctor, right before the TARDIS' engines changed pitch.

"The TARDIS has telepathic circuits," the Doctor reached for the controls, "That thing out there may have given up on you and linked with it!" He gave several console objects several experimental tugs and whacks, to no avail, "and it apparently convinced the TARDIS, because we're now heading straight for it!"

"And we're not slowing down!" Cara yelped, eyeing the display. All around them, the TARDIS began to rattle and vibrate.

The Doctor's eyes got big, "Better grab hold of something!"

Cara wrapped her arms around the first thing near her, which was the Doctor. He wrapped his arms around her at the same time. Then they both realized that neither was holding anything actually bolted to the floor.

"Um!" Cara cried, too late. The TARDIS stopped moving very suddenly, throwing both Time Lords hard against the console. They felt things shifting and snapping under their weight. Sparks flew in every direction. The ship seemed to bounce the other direction, throwing her occupants onto the floor. Then the lights went out, all but the soft green glow of the central column.

Cara and the Doctor lay stunned for a moment, waiting for everything to stop spinning around them.

The Doctor looked at Cara in his arms and grinned, "Well, that wasn't so bad."

Cara blinked, then glared, then giggled and finally just sat up, groaning, "what WAS that? So, we hit the blob, what happened?"

The Doctor stood and helped Cara to her feet before sighing at the dark TARDIS, "Unfortunately, I have no idea."

"Well, I'd say we should check for damage, but that could take a few lifetimes," Cara sighed.

"Do you feel that?" the Doctor raised his arms slightly to the sides and spread his feet apart to shoulder width.

"Feel what?" Cara shook her head.

The Doctor ran to the TARDIS door and opened it slightly. A shaft of light split through the darkness of the control room.

Sunlight.

"Something tells me we're not in the Vortex anymore," Cara joined the Doctor at the doorway. He opened the door wider, revealing that the TARDIS was now sitting on acres of flat, cultivated cropland.

"No," the Doctor shook his head, "I think we're in Kansas."

Cara blinked into the sun and stepped out of the TARDIS door. Then she blinked again. She looked from one side, to the other, and back. Shaking her head, she began moving toward the object that appeared to have landed next to the TARDIS. It was wooden, blue, and box-shaped. In fact, it looked exactly like the exterior of the TARDIS.

The Doctor stared dumbfounded, only having gotten one foot out the door of his own police box. He watched as Cara ran to the other box and touched it. She stroked it, sliding to lean against it, smiling.

"Where have you been all my life?" she murmured, "you've been hiding from me, haven't you? Clever thing."

"That's impossible!" the Doctor finally sputtered, though as soon as he said it, he knew he was wrong. He remembered what had been overlooked in the madness of the Time War…a single ship disconnected from the others. Rogue. Redesigned for a purpose in war.

"Cara," the Doctor slowly stepped from his ship and moved toward her, but her hand was already on the other box's door.

"Cara, don't!"

The door was open, the woman already inside.

All was deathly quiet.

The Doctor peered into the doorway at Cara, who was now circling the controls of the second ship.

"Come out of there!" the Doctor ordered.

"But this is it!" Cara breathed, "this is my ship! My TARDIS." She ran her fingers over several controls and the bubbling of the column seemed to slow in contentment. Cara smiled, "oh, we've had some good times together, haven't we?"

"Please," the Doctor pleaded, "will you please just come back out here with me?"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Cara looked up, "how rude of me! Come on in, Doctor!" She grinned, "there's plenty of space!"

"I can't," the Doctor tried to catch her eyes with his gaze, but she was more sleepwalking through a dream than anything, "neither of us should be in there!"

"Why not? It's a TARDIS, we're Time Lords, we kind of go together," Cara sniffed, "come on, look, she remembers me! And she obviously likes you, she took the form of your TARDIS."

The Doctor shook his head, "She imprinted off my TARDIS because my ship was the closest thing when we landed. For all your ship knows, they grow Police Boxes in fields in Kansas! We can discuss this further if you'd please just come out!"

"What's the rush?" Cara asked, "we've got time." She giggled and watched her bubbling column.

"No we don't!" The Doctor cried, running a hand through his hair. He was losing, he could see that. But that was unacceptable. He had to get her attention, "Cara, do you love me?"

"Huh?" Cara blinked her eyes slowly as if painting the air with her eyelashes. She grinned and giggled again, "Doctor, you don't have to be jealous, it's just a ship."

"Come out here and say that!" he challenged her.

"Nice try," Cara shook a finger at him, "but you'll just have to come in here and get me." Just then, her eyes lost the clouded look. They were bewildered, and frightened. "What's happening?" she glanced toward the slender form silhouetted in the doorframe. Some instinctual part of her fought its way up from her gut and announced how wrong the situation was.

"Why?" Cara asked, staring at the man in her door, "why now?"

"I'm so sorry. Worst possible timing to find your ship," the Doctor muttered, "Fight it! It's trying to get inside your head. Just fight it and come here. Come to me."

"You," Cara squinted, "I know you from somewhere."

"Yes, you do," The Doctor said calmingly, "if you come with me, you'll be safe." But he said it in a haze that was snatched away, as if he'd never said it at all. Cara shook her head, "Safe?"

"Safe?" the Doctor repeated, surprised, "uh, yes, Cara, safe. Safe is out here. Safe is with me. Come on." His voice sounded different to her.

Cara's eyes were glazed, "I can't go. Have to…fight. They're coming."

"No one's coming," the Doctor reassured her.

"Really?" Cara took a step toward him and stopped, "You're lying. He said you'd lie. You'd try to turn me away from my mission."

"No," the Doctor felt everything drain away from his face and leave him empty, "no, you don't. You don't have to do anything. Especially not this. Don't relive this. Please."

"They're coming," Cara insisted, "coming in their disks. Coming to destroy us. They already took the colony on Promise Moon."

"Promise Moon," The Doctor leaned his head back on the door jam, "of course, your family."

"I won't let more of us die!" Cara spat suddenly, "I have a job to do. I have to destroy them once and for all!"

"They're already gone," the Doctor sighed desperately, "the Daleks, the Time Lords, the war, it's all gone."

For the briefest moment, Cara wavered. She walked to him, her eyes wondering. She reached out a hand slowly toward him…and grabbed the door, "Then why am I still here?" she demanded, slamming the door in his face.

"No!" the Doctor slammed his fist against the door. The second blue box started to shimmer and whirr. The light on the top flashed as if in farewell.

"Cara!" the Doctor yelled, running to his own ship, "oh no you don't!"

Soon, Kansas was once again empty of police boxes. The farmer who owned the land was, however, perplexed to find two identical "crop squares" while he flew over the next morning in his crop duster.


	5. Chapter 5

The Doctor's ship careened recklessly through time and space, in hot pursuit of Cara's ship.

"Women," he muttered, "always opening boxes they shouldn't. Always have to taste, look, touch." He grabbed the edge of the console as the TARDISes made a tight turn, "And you were no help at all," he gave the console a swift kick, seeming to help the ship get around the turn.

The air itself seemed to tear in half with an ear-splitting screech, and the Doctor didn't have to look to know that his fear had come true. Cara was gone.

The TARDIS slammed to a stop, though her engines still strained at full power. Breaking from his seconds of stunned silence, the Doctor eased up on the controls and began searching for a suitable place to land. The TARDIS seemed reluctant to give up the chase and initially resisted the Doctor's commands. He yanked harder, trying to speak soothingly to the cantankerous machine.

"There there, old girl," he crooned through clenched teeth, "I know how you feel. The last of my kind deserted me, too." He glared in frustration at nothing in particular, "but we can't follow where they went. Not yet, anyway."

This seemed to appease the ancient vessel, which obediently settled on the planet the Doctor had directed it to. The exterior form of the police box sat serenely on a grassy hillside, a purple and green lightly clouded sky swirling above. There, the Doctor began his repairs.

Cara stood at the center of her ship's control room, her right hand encased in the neurosensitive gel that formed the TARDIS' steering mechanism. Through delicate impulses in her fingers, she could control her ship's maneuvering with speed and accuracy. The only downside was that this did not leave her able to reach the rest of the console. However, most of the ship's main functions had been rerouted to controls on the same side as the glowing silvery gel box.

She closed her eyes, imagining that she could feel the very threads of time and space between her fingers. That she could loosen any knots with the brush of a fingertip. Yes, this is how it should be. How it was meant to be.

"Just give me a fast ship," Cara murmured, "and a fluctuation in temporal winds to steer her by." She grinned, then stopped herself. _I can't lose sight of The Mission. The Mission is all that matters. _

The fiber optic cables running up the column changed color sharply to red. A computer voice would have accompanied it, but Cara had switched it off. The last thing she wanted to listen to was a mechanized voice. She could announce, quite capably, the reason for the red.

"Temporal barrier detected," Cara rolled her eyes, "yeah, knew that, thanks."

The color changed to yellow.

"Ill bet," Cara muttered, "that you would suggest slowing down. However, I have a different idea in mind. Why don't you…" she reached to flip some switches, "…activate…" she tapped a keypad, then stretched one leg over the console to kick down a lever, "the chronatomic ram shielding?"

The color changed to a dark maroon. Cara knew they must be close. _If this doesn't work, I'll be infinitely scattered across the universe. _Internally, she counted down as her engines shrieked and alarms started going off.

Five. Four. Three. Two.

Bump.

The ship rattled, and that was all. The cables became their normal deep blue tone, illuminating the peacefully bubbling column as if the TARDIS hadn't just broken through a thus far highly effective time lock.

"You just fulfilled your purpose, baby," Cara breathed in relief, "now I've got to fulfill mine." She set the ship for temporal hovering and began her search. All must be accounted for, if this was to work.


	6. Chapter 6

The Doctor was just finishing a quick recalibration of the TARDIS' relativity dampeners when something started banging on the outside of the ship. The something also seemed to be screaming for help.

"What is it now?" the Doctor opened the door and a human woman fell in. Just beyond where she was standing, a large reptilian bat-like creature swooped from the sky, blacker than the shadow of the mountain peak behind it. The Doctor slammed the door and gave the woman a questioning smile.

"Uh," the woman blinked at the Doctor, "those things…and you…you look different. Again."

"Do I know you?" the Doctor asked.

"Dorothy Dike," the woman nodded at the TARDIS approvingly, "I see you've redecorated. Personally, I miss the brushed steel look, but this is okay too. Very organic."

"Dorothy?" the Doctor frowned, "I don't know you."

Dorothy smiled, "Of course you do. ISS II? That business with the German scientist and the asteroid? Course you were a woman then. Maybe you lost the memory?"

"What? I've never been a woman!" the Doctor sputtered.

Dorothy stopped, "this is your ship, isn't it?"  
"Yes, but…" the Doctor nodded as realization dawned, "Ah, I think this is a case of mistaken identity. I'm the Doctor."

"The Doctor? That's not much of a name. Where's Cara? What did you do with her?" Dorothy demanded hotly.

"Cara," the Doctor's expression hardened, "You just missed her."

Dorothy was silent.

"Those flying things, how many were there?" the Doctor asked.

"Four that I saw, black, red, white, pale, like the horses of the apocalypse," Dorothy replied shakily, "why? What does it mean?"

"It means," the Doctor fired up the TARDIS, "that we have an important job to do, Dorothy Dike."

Cara's TARDIS screen erupted in static. She turned a knob, gradually cleaning up the image.

"…to all TARDISes, this is Gallifrey, do you read us? We are under heavy attack, please resp-aaaaaa!" The image tilted and the man speaking vanished in a flash. A different voice could be heard in the background.

"EX-TERRR-MIN-ATE. EX-TERR-MIN-ATE!"

The TARDIS rocked as an entire world burned beneath it. Through the "transparency" projecting walls of her ship, Cara could see the atmosphere of Gallifrey suddenly torn away, leaving a burning, blackening, lifeless hunk of rock. The planet was gone, and had taken the Time Lords and the Dalek fleet with it.

Sighing, Cara walked around to the other side of her console. She flipped switches and pressed her fingers lightly into the gel box, pulling her ship across time. The projection on her walls of what was happening outside showed the atmosphere of Gallifrey reappearing. Legions of enormous flying saucers swallowed their soldiers and vanished backward into space. Like a tape on rewind, the final battle of the Time War was undone.

A light blinked on the console. Then two lights joined it, and were themselves joined by four more. Cara pulled a model T handbrake and time resumed its abbreviated flow within the locked space.

"Gallifrey, this is Infinity Three," Cara spoke into a carved Ivonic Tusk Beast's tooth that had been fashioned into a microphone, "Reporting in."

"Infinity Three, we thought you'd all been lost at Rimglaze!" the Gallifrey dispatcher exclaimed, "welcome home!"

With a smile of irony, Cara replied, "good to be back. I need to speak to Minister Retan of Fleet Operations as soon as it can be arranged. It's a matter of great urgency."

"Of course, I will clear you for docking at Central."

"Thank you."

When Cara stepped out of her ship, she found herself in a tall, transparent dome filled with shining white geometric TARDIS exteriors. Everywhere, Time Lords stepped in and out of them, carrying tools and parts. The hum of voices and thoughts created a harmonious atmosphere, lit from outside by the golden sky. It looked more like a luxury hotel than a spaceship docking bay.

Cara gave her own geometric ship a pat and strode off across the polished stone floor to the door set into the curving wall. Memories rushed to her mind.

_"Caranarankisana!" the heavily robed man exclaimed, recognizing her immediately._

_ "Minister Retan," Cara bowed with a respect she had never been sure that she actually felt._

_ "I trust your mission was successful," the Minister smiled._

_ "Yes," Cara clenched her teeth, "but Promise Moon is gone."_

_ "That is a tragedy, but no great matter," the Minister waved a hand dismissively, "a colony of dissidents. Troublemakers. Spreading lies about our culture, perpetuating paranoia. Gallifrey is better off."_

_ "They were unprotected," Cara's voice was strained._

_ "They chose to live in isolation," the Minister shrugged._

The memory faded as Cara burst into the Minister's office, completing the thought that she hadn't voiced so long ago, "but what about the children? And those without a choice? And what about you?"

The Minister stood in surprise from behind his desk, "Who are you? What is the meaning of this?"

"You think you're safe, all high and mighty, living in bubbles, contemplating the universe as you destroy civilizations in your little war. But I have news for you, Minister. The universe is through contemplating _us_. The Time Lords are about to find themselves outmatched by time itself. Because you refused to be prepared, you will fall."

"Guards?" the Minister whimpered into an intercom.

"Gone," Cara stared at him, "already swallowed by time and space."

The Minister growled, "who are you?"

With a feral smile, Cara stared into his eyes, "don't worry, Gallifrey will rise again."

"But who are you?" he demanded. He looked at his hands. They were glowing red and blue. Crackles of energy started snaking up his arms, engulfing his body, while Cara watched. She stood silently as the man stared at her in horror. He started to scream, but he vanished before any sound came out.

Cara's face relaxed as she addressed the now-empty robes, answering his final question, "I'm the girl who's going to make it happen."


	7. Chapter 7

"So, what is it" Dorothy asked as the Doctor piloted his ship, "Hypnosis? Body snatchers?"

"Nothing so straightforward," the Doctor replied, half-distracted by a dozen calculations he was doing in his head. He pulled a shiny object out of his pocket and held it, examining it, "you see, long ago on our world, there was a group of people who believed that we could be more than we were. That we should develop our capacity for mental influence, telepathy, telekinesis, without holding back in the name of decency. They wanted Time Lords to rise to become the most powerful beings in the universe. They were called the Infinity Syndicate, and many members secretly held positions of power in the government."

"And Cara got mixed up with this lot?" Dorothy frowned, "that doesn't sound like her type of party."

"They found her once while she was regenerating," the Doctor sighed, "that's how they would recruit members, because no Time Lord would join them by choice. But when we regenerate, we're vulnerable. While her mind was still developing, they went inside it and changed things. Subtle things. They left feelings and suggestions that would make their cause seem logical to her, even morally right."

"That's awful!" Dorothy gasped.

The Doctor turned the object in his hand, "when Gallifrey fell, so did the Infinity Syndicate, all except Cara, who was left with one instruction." The Doctor held up the object, a silver ring fashioned into a smooth figure-eight symbol, "Redemption, by any means necessary. And now," the Doctor stared past the ring at his TARDIS, "they've given her the power to raise all the Time Lords from the dead. To raise an entire army of vengeful beings with the power to destroy anyone just by looking at them, and to turn them loose on our enemies."

"Wow," Dorothy said, unable to think of more.

"Trouble is, they won't stop there," the Doctor shook his head, "when the time lock around Gallifrey breaks, it'll send shockwaves across time and space, drawing my people outward, to everywhere there's a civilization."

"Crazy mutant grudge-holding Time Lords everywhere," Dorothy blinked, "sounds like a problem."

"And we're the only ones who can stop her," the Doctor sadly looked at the ring again.

"Wait," Dorothy eyed the Doctor nervously, "we don't have to, you know…kill her, do we? I mean, she saved my life once…"

The Doctor quietly checked his controls, "I won't destroy her, but I may not be able to save her." _But I've got to try._


	8. Chapter 8

As Cara returned to the bay, she noticed a new ship materializing among the TARDISes. It was blue and box-shaped. The Doctor. But was it the Doctor from this time, or from hers? Cara ducked behind a nearby TARDIS. She wasn't taking any chances. She slipped from ship to ship until she reached her own. Cara didn't notice that she hadn't been breathing until she stepped into her TARDIS, and back into memory.

_"Cara, you have to stop this!" the Doctor's voice echoed across scenes of destruction and death, "the Infinity Syndicate won't quit until they've destroyed themselves and the universe along with them!"_

_ "But we can save Gallifrey!" Cara cried, "it's our only hope. The entire Dalek fleet is coming and normal Time Lords can't withstand an attack of that magnitude. The Daleks and the Time Lords will destroy each other unless we do something!" _

_ "This isn't the way!" the Doctor yelled, "come with me. We'll find another way!"_

_ "There is no other way," Cara growled, shaking her head. The scene became clear. She and the Doctor were standing in a laboratory room. Cara was blocking his way to a control panel. Behind her, someone else entered the room. The Doctor recognized the other Time Lord and Cara could feel his frustration mount. She pushed him back into the hall with her mind, willing him to understand, and threw the door closed. Things seemed to blink in and out. _

_ The time had come. The machine was ready. Cara disguised a shiver with a proud toss of her head. The other Time Lord in the room didn't even question it. Cara could sense that he didn't even suspect her thoughts. He was far too engrossed in his creation, far too confident, too certain that the plan could succeed on the power of his ego alone. _

_ The man circled the machine, dark gleeful expressions chasing across his face. Cara half expected him to break out into evil laughter, which would be just like him. However, he did not indulge himself this time. _

_ "Cara, this is it," he hissed, "we're on the verge of a new dawn. A brand new Time Lord civilization."_

_ Cara sidled to him, "with this machine, the Infinity Syndicate can reach its true potential." _

_ "They thought they destroyed us," the man seethed, "sending us into that mess at Rimglaze, then pulling the fabric of space out from under us. But," the man rubbed his hands together, "they were sloppy. They made mistakes, and we will prevail."_

_"I think they'll find us irresistible," Cara giggled._

_ "Until now, we've had to initiate people one by one," the man continued as if Cara hadn't spoken at all, "but if we can instigate mass regeneration, we can bring them all into the truth at once."_

_ "Wiping out the opposition," Cara smiled, "saving our race by killing them all."_

_ "A sweet irony," the man agreed. _

Cara blinked. Shaking her head to clear it, she vaulted over her sofa and instructed her ship to take off. Now, she was the only one left. The Infinity Syndicate must prevail. It was the only way her race would survive.

As Cara's ship faded out of the bay, the door to the blue police box flew open. The Doctor leapt out and glanced around. He then gestured toward the TARDIS. A woman came out. She was dark-haired with intense violet eyes. She stepped nervously behind the Doctor and pointed to the bay door, "It's this way!"

"Cara, are you sure?" the Doctor asked.

The woman nodded, "it's always parked outside."

The two walked quickly to the door, trying to remain casual looking. No other Time Lords paid them any attention.


	9. Chapter 9

"If time is locked," Dorothy reasoned, "how are we going to get in?"

The Doctor had spent about an hour explaining as much as she could understand to his human passenger, figuring he'd need all the help he could get. She was surprisingly intelligent, though perhaps not surprising, considering Cara had at some point chosen to travel with her.

"Those things chasing you," the Doctor explained, "they're like vultures. Whenever there's a part of time decaying, they come to that spot. They could smell the decay from the Time War, which means that whatever she used to punch through left a hole, probably big enough for a TARDIS to squeeze through, and what were you doing on that planet anyway?"

"After Cara…when I saw her come back to life as someone else, it…scared me," Dorothy looked ashamed, "I ran away, intending to hitch back to Earth, thinking I could see some sights along the way. But I ended up marooned here at an abandoned spaceport a half-mile away from here. Luckily, they had abandoned fully stocked vending machines. But I was getting lonely. And once those apocalyptic vultures appeared, and then I heard your ship…"

"And you thought Cara had come back for you," the Doctor finished.

"I guess it was a bit self-centered," Dorothy smiled sheepishly, "I already got her killed once." She looked down, "still, I could be home now if I hadn't run away. I was just…she changed."

"We do that," the Doctor gave Dorothy a quick, kind smile, and then ducked under his console, sonic screwdriver in hand.

"So how is she?" Dorothy asked quietly, "aside from being brainwashed by ancient secret societies?"

"She's doing well," the Doctor replied, "though I only just found her again, myself. That should do it." He crawled out from under the console and closed the panel, "never thought I'd be trying to break _into_ a time lock."

"What's in there?" Dorothy asked.

"Death, destruction, war." The Doctor gazed at her tragically, "locked in place. Unchangeable. Normally impenetrable because a time that can't be altered can't be visited, but the ship that Cara has, it's been modified. It can bypass the material laws of temporal physics. She and the Infinity Syndicate spent a hundred years perfecting the design and integrating it into her TARDIS."

"A hundred years!" Dorothy gasped, "I wasn't gone that long!"

"No," the Doctor realized, "so I must have gone back in time when I landed here."

"Your past is my future," Dorothy sighed, "but our presents are the same. I'll never get used to this."

"Don't worry, Dorothy Dike," the Doctor reassured her, "after all of this is over, I'll get you home."

Dorothy managed a brave smile, "Don't worry about me, Doctor. I'd gotten used to the idea of being stranded in space. Let's go help Cara. And please call me Dodi."

Cara worked while Gallifrey burned and un-burned three times more before she let her ship walls turn opaque again. She must concentrate on her work. The TARDIS rocked back and forth across time, trying to compensate for the effects of the time lock. The result was billions of lives being snuffed out simultaneously, over and over, as the ship attempted to hover over the single event. Cara guessed that at least this would give her a better opportunity to calibrate the psionic wave emitters to the exact instant when all the Time Lords started to die.

_And the Daleks, too, _Cara smiled grimly, _But I've calculated a less than 0.00014% chance of any of them surviving the emission. Stupid trash cans can't handle that much brain activity at once. _

The thought of the entire Dalek battlefleet with exploding brains gave Cara greater speed in working on the adjustments to her ship's equipment.

She was unaware that someone else in a stolen ship had noticed her existence and was keeping its eye on the TARDIS zig-zagging in time.

"TARRR-DIS DE-TEC-TED!" said one Dalek to the stolen ship's illegal captain.

"IS IT THE DOC-TOR?"

"NO. BUT IT DID COME FROM BE-YOND THE TIME LOCK."

"OB-SERVE. DE-TER-MINE THE MISSION OF THE TARRR-DIS," commanded the commanding Dalek.

"SCAN IN-I-TI-AT-ED," reported another Dalek, "SCAN COM-PLETE. CON-FIRMED, THE TAR-DIS IS NOT FROM THIS TIME. IT CON-TAINS AR-MA-MENTS SU-PER-I-OR TO THAT OF THE TIME LORDS."

"BUT NOT SU-PER-I-OR TO THE DA-LEKS," the commander Dalek yelled smugly, "EX-TER-MIN-ATE! EX-TER-MIN-ATE! EX-TER-MIN-ATE!"


End file.
